{"id":142021,"date":"2025-08-13T09:26:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142021\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T09:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:26:28","slug":"after-community-push-square-diner-server-to-be-released-following-two-month-ice-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142021\/","title":{"rendered":"After Community Push, Square Diner Server to be Released Following Two-Month ICE Detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luis Fernandez, a longtime server at Tribeca\u2019s Square Diner, is expected home within a day <\/a>after a judge ordered his release from ICE custody on Monday, according to Tribeca Citizen. The decision follows weeks of organizing by neighbors, regulars, and coworkers who believe the arrest never should have happened.<\/p>\n

Fernandez, originally from Ecuador, has lived in New York for over 35 years and has green-card status; he currently lives in Queens, is married and has two children. For over seven years, he has been a familiar face behind the counter at the 100-year-old Square Diner<\/a> (33 Leonard Street, at Varick Street), until he was detained on June 24<\/a> after checking in on his pending asylum application on Long Island. ICE confirmed the arrest in a statement to the Tribeca Citizen in July.<\/p>\n

After Fernandez, 50, was detained in late June, according to the publication<\/a>, Tribeca Tribune, he went from 26 Federal Plaza to New Jersey to Maryland and finally to the IAH Polk Adult Detention Facility <\/a>in Livingston, Texas. In the NYC facility, Fernandez says he was fed a bagel, a bottle of water, and a chocolate chip cookie each day, according to colleagues who kept in touch.<\/p>\n

From the start, the community moved quickly <\/a>to rally behind him. Kris Brown, a 25-year Tribeca resident who lives on the same block as the Square Diner, wrote a letter to ICE shortly after Fernandez was detained. \u201cAfter sharing [it] with a neighbor and friend, Winsome Brown [no relation], she posted it on her Instagram account<\/a>, which went viral within a few days [and got] almost 200,000 views,\u201d Brown told Eater in an email.<\/p>\n

That attention, Brown said, \u201cled to additional attention to Luis\u2019s situation, outreach by the local Tribeca press \u2026 [and] a reach out by my neighbor and a fellow lawyer Claude Millman, who I helped put in touch with Luis\u2019s friend and Square Diner co-worker Irma Fernando.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through Fernando, Brown was connected with Fernandez\u2019s daughter Liset, helping coordinate with the legal team ahead of a July 30 virtual status hearing. In the interim, \u201cWe were able to be in touch with Luis via Liset to impress upon him the need to ask for a bond hearing \u2026 and to let the judge know that he was represented by counsel and had the money to post a bond, as well as remind the judge that he had a previously scheduled amnesty application pending\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n

The Tribeca Citizen reports that, at Monday\u2019s bond hearing in Livingston, Texas, senior attorney Carl Relles represented Fernandez, after first-year associate Pam Rosero prepared the motion and supporting documents.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe organized by Fernando with help from Brown and Millman raised more than $21,000 \u2014 enough to cover Fernandez\u2019s $5,000 bond, legal fees, and other expenses, according to the Tribeca Citizen. The bond amount was lower than the $10,000 figure that\u2019s typical in similar cases.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, according to a study from CMS <\/a>released in 2024, as many as 8.3 million undocumented immigrants work in the U.S. economy, representing 5.2 percent of the workforce. Of those, around a million people or more work in restaurants.<\/p>\n

For many in the neighborhood, Fernandez\u2019s release is a win not just for him, but for a tight-knit community that refused to stand by. \u201cWhile Luis\u2019s record is not perfect,\u201d Brown said, \u201chis transgressions occurred long ago, and since then he has been an outstanding neighbor, worker, and father.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Fernandez\u2019s next court date related to his previously scheduled amnesty application, is on January 30, 2026. Until then, regulars are looking forward to having him back pouring coffee and trading stories at the Square Diner\u2019s counter \u2014 the same spot where his neighbors first rallied to bring him home.<\/p>\n